For my birthday last year, dad gave me the best present I could have dreamed of - a few holes of golf with him after a hard-going year of chemo, surgery and doing all we could to stay safe and avoid Covid! I couldn’t have got through 2019/20 without the support of very good friends and family and that’s why for his birthday in April, we want to raise money and awareness for a cause very close to our hearts and one in particular that means the world to us as a family - The Fionn Brogan Trust (https://fionnbrogantrust.ie/).

In the same year as dad’s diagnosis, one of my cousin's kids - Fionn, aged just 3 at the time - was diagnosed with Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy. DMD is a very cruel condition that will only worsen with time and sadly those that are diagnosed with it only have an average life expectancy into their early 20s. It is a degenerative disease that attacks the muscles and every time Fionn exercises or does any activity, his muscles don’t have the ability to heal themselves and grow. Over time he won’t be able to climb the stairs, play football or do so many of the things that he and kids his age love to do.

Already DMD is having such a heart-wrenching impact on their lives as a family. Now aged five, Fionn requires a power assisted wheelchair at times to get around and keep up with his siblings and class mates. Fionn's sense of adventure and fun is endless and the monies raised thus far have had a massive impact on the family life in the purchase of a van to enable his wheelchair to be transported with the family.

My cousin Michael, and his wife Maeve, are the most caring people you could meet and in order to make the next few years the best they possibly can for Fionn, The Fionn Brogan Trust has been set up to collect and administer funds raised for Fionn’s plight. The trust is responsible for distributing monies to meet the costs of Fionn’s ongoing care, and costs borne by his family related to his treatment and to ensure Fionn can maintain as independent a life as possible as he grows up with this disease. For those who are interested in finding out more about DMD please visit www.duchenneuk.org

So as I say, for dad’s birthday this year, I’ve decided to raise money and challenge myself in April to virtually walk the distance from Edinburgh (via Kilmacolm to see dad en-route) to Blackrock, Dublin where Fionn lives. It’s about 525km which, if you’re step obsessed like me, works out at about 24,500 steps a day, every day!

Can I therefore ask all my friends who are able, recognising that for many it just won’t be possible given the financial uncertainty that Covid has brought, help me give back to a family that has given so much by way of support and love to me over the years. And, of course, please share where you can and also consider choosing The Fionn Brogan Trust for any fundraising you, your friends or colleagues might be doing in the years ahead!

Lots of love, Andrew